Das Wunderkind
by inherit-absence-of-light
Summary: Dr Logan Michaels, 19, didn't know what she was getting into when she let jason Gideon talk her into joining the BAU's elite team. will be a long-fic. eventual Reid/OC. first fanfiction so please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

'_**You meet people who forget you. you forget people you meet. But sometimes you meet those people you can't forget. Those are your friends. **__-_author unknown.

Agent Jason Gideon sat in the campus coffee shop sipping his tea and watching the birds absentmindedly. he had just been to an appointment with an old colleague today at the academy about doing a lecture to some students next month. He tore his eyes away from the birds and surveyed the students around him. all were chatting happily or poring over books. If only they knew the things his job required him to see...

His eyes wandered to the book store adjoining the small café. There was a girl at the checkout who looked to be in her late teens. He watched her as she payed for a large volume text-book, and left the store. As she made her way out, she opened the book, and flipped the pages so quickly she had reached the back of the book before she reached the exit. Gideon watched quizzically as she tossed the book in the trash on the way out. He stood up and made his way over to the strange girl, who was now sitting at a table, eyes closed and her lips moving quickly, soundlessly. He sat down across from her and she opened her eyes.

'Hello,' he said, "I am-"

She cut him off. "Agent Jason Gideon, Behaviourial Analysis Unit."

He smiled at the young girl, and he looked at her appraisingly. " May I ask your name then?" he asked her.

"Logan Michaels sir. I mean, Dr. Logan Michaels."

Gideon was shocked to hear the formality he used so much when introducing Spencer in front of this girl's name. She spoke again.

"Why does everyone always do that?"

Jason snapped out of his shocked ponderings and looked back up at young Logan, who smiled back.

"I was wondering why you threw out that book." he told her simply. She looked at him and laughed, a cheery tinkling that sounded like music.

"Well, sir, I don't need it anymore." she tapped her temple and explained further. 'I have a photographic memory. In seconds I committed every word of that book to it. The text is no longer of any use to me. Now, approximately 34% of the population can do this to some extent without realizing it, but they remember far less, much less often, and not as accurately." Gideon looked at the remarkable young girl in front of him.

"How old are you, Dr. Michaels?"

"Just turned 18 years old, 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 17 hours and 42 minutes ago, Sir," she told him, looking at her watch. And please, don't call me _Dr. _It makes me sound old. He nodded, taking it all in. He figured nothing about this girl would surprise him anymore.

"And what are you studying here at the academy?"

"Nothing sir, I'm here lecturing students today." he had been wrong. This surprised him.

"What field do you work in, then?"

"Crimes against children sir,' she told him almost reluctantly. This caused him to chuckle. She continued, her tone beginning to become frustrated. .

"It is true, yes. I work with children everyday and yet up until recently I was legally still one myself. It is also true that more than 90% of the students I lectured today were on the upwards of at least 3 years older than me, but still..."

Gideon stopped laughing. He was completely intrigued by this small girl. He shook his head in wonder. "What subject Is your PhD in, Logan?" He asked her. She looked relieved by the fact that he had stopped laughing at her. And was glad for the change of paths in conversation.

" PhD's, sir. In the plural. In Criminology, sociology, psychology, and mathematics, as well as my law degree and bachelor's degrees in physics and bio-chemistry." she said all in one breath. Gideon again looked at this child in awe.

"_Das wunderkind_," he said under his breath.

"Pardon me?" she asked.

"_Das wunderkind_," he told her, louder this time. She smiled.

"German for _'_ The Wonder Child". _. _Mozart was known as _wunderkind_ in his early days of fame in Salzburg, in the early 1760's." she told him, eager to share what she knew.

The two quickly finished their conversation, talking about nothing In particular, exchanged phone numbers, and Gideon bade the interesting young girl goodbye. But they would meet again, and agent Gideon, he wanted her talent. And agent Gideon did not often give up on what he wanted easily. He would walk to the edges of the earth if he had to. Because he had to have her.

But agent Gideon wasn't the only one who wanted young Logan Michaels. Someone watched them today. Watched her yesterday and will watch her tomorrow. And his intentions are much more sinister.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

_**A year and a half later**_

Aaron Hotchner exited the elevator along with a swarm of other agents. He walked over to where the rest of his team stood in a group, sipping coffees and chatting, no doubt awaiting his arrival. Everyone greeted him warmly as he approached, but the banter was forced to quiet, as it was nearly time to get down to business. He seemed not to acknowledge the absence of agent Gideon before he spoke.

"Conference room in 10 please" he told them and he made a bee-line towards his office.

they all made their way towards the conference room, despite the 10 minute warning, now waiting for both Gideon and Hotch.

Gideon entered the conference with a small girl in tow. She was slender and looked to be about five feet nine, and had chocolate-brown hair, pale skin and large, curious, bright green eyes. Her bottom lip was full and pouty, Her teeth were straight, and she wore sensible, designer clothes. Overall she was very pretty. She approached them, and Morgan was the first to speak, a smirk on his face.

"Is it bring your kid to work day Gideon?"

Gideon rolled his eyes as everyone else snickered. He looked around and said,

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of this team. This is doctor Logan Michaels, Logan, these are agents Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, Penelope Garcia, Jennifer Jareau, well, JJ, and Doctor Spencer Reid." he said, gesturing at each of them. She smiled at each and gave a small wave. all of them greeted her warmly. Morgan looked to be in some sort of shock. Looking between Gideon and Logan repeatedly before spluttering,

"How old are you?"

Logan saw the look on his face and laughed. Gideon loved to hear her laugh, it meant she was happy.

"19, Derek. I turn 20 in..." she glanced down at her silver watch. " 2 months, 4 days, 13 hours and 25 minutes. She smiled brilliantly. Derek looked at her like she had grown a second head. Then he looked at Reid, back at Logan, and then accusingly at Gideon.

"How the hell did you manage to find another one?" he asked gesturing at Reid. Gideon laughed and decided to play Morgan's game.

"Wrong place at the wrong time I guess." he told his colleague. Logan looked extremely put out with her father-figure, and she looked at him, a pout playing across her pretty face.

"I'm not _that_ bad, am I?" she said, jerking her thumb over her head at Reid. He looked genuinely offended. Gideon smiled at his protogé and told her,

"Oh no, Logan. You're much worse."

"Yay." she said simply and began to giggle. Hotch chose that moment to enter the room and she gave him a small smile.

'Agent hotchner. Nice to see you again sir." he returned the smile.

"Logan, how many times have I told you to call me Hotch?"

"Seventeen, sir."

"Do me a favor and get it through that head of yours then." he told her jokingly. The majority of the team found it strange that this kid, who had literally walked into their lives moments ago, already had their über serious leader cracking jokes and smiling.

Gideon watched from the background as Logan began to further get to know the people who would eventually, as they had for everyone, become family. He smiled. They had long passed Hotch's 10 minute warning, but no one seemed to mind all that much. He could tell, by means of his skill as a profiler, and by the looks on their faces, that though they were confused, his team, his _family_, liked her just as much as he did. Which was good. With a past like Logan's, someone needed a little acceptance.

As the team eventually got to the task at hand, and they headed out to the airport to protect their country's people from yet another monster, what Jason didn't know is that Logan's past was _nothing_ compared to what her future had in store for her, and for everyone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Listen, I just wanted to apologize for the space between updates. Life is busy, busy, busy, and writers block totally sucks! But I hope this chapter is well worth the wait. Love you all!**

**-Megan**

**Chapter 2**

Logan pushed the last of her paperwork away. She smiled at the pile of folders in front of her, all completed before the plane touched back down in DC. If her photographic memory came in handy anywhere, it was here, in filling out the paperwork that came along with being in the FBI.

She reflected on her first case with the BAU, a particularly grisly one in Hastings, Nebraska. Their Unsub, a 31 year old man named Andrew Scotts, shot 11 women who resembled the wife who left him with nothing, with immense overkill, using sometimes the upwards of 50 shots on each. His narcissism led him to believe no one would hear gunshots, and his egoistic attitude led him to fire shots in broad daylight, leading to his safe capture and the rescue of 29 year old Abigail Montgomery.

'_Abigail,' _she thought 'Originating in the Hebrew language, meaning _joy of the father.'_

Logan pulled herself out of her own mind abruptly, before she got lost. She stood up, and moved to sit in the vacant seat beside Derek, who was sitting across from Prentiss and Reid. Derek had headphones in his ears, but removed them when she sat down. Reid was reading a book, and Prentiss, who had long ago given up on reading over his shoulder, was now playing with her dark hair absentmindedly.

"Hey princess," Derek said, addressing her with he new nickname. She stuck her tongue out at him childishly. He tried to make his expression resemble hurt. "Was it something I said?" he asked her almost gloomily. She smiled at him. She truly liked the team. Gideon's descriptions had been vague, and had certainly not done any of them justice...

Derek snapped his fingers In front of her face, gaining her attention once again.

"Hello, earth to Logan...I said, why don't you tell us a little more about yourself. There really was not time earlier, and then we were working on the case." she nodded, and wondered where she should start.

"Well," she began, "I grew up in New York City, and I graduated highschool just after I turned 11. Then I went to NYU and got my law degree. I simultaneously got my psychology doctorate at Alfred Private University, in New York. Graduated Alfred when I was 13. Then I grew bored of New York, so I moved, by myself, to Wisconsin to study sociology at Madison just before I turned 14. graduated with 2 degrees, a masters in bio-chemistry, and my sociology doctorate." she told them. They all just sat there stupidly, jaws dropped. She continued.

"So, at 15, I got bored with life in Wisconsin, so I moved to Pasadena, and got my mathematics doctorate and my masters in physics, at cal-tech, before finally I went to Maryland to study criminology, signed up for the academy, got laughed at, a lot, joined the Crimes Against Children Unit in Baltimore, and never looked back."

The entire plane was silent for a minute. And then she looked at the cover of the book Reid was reading. It was _pebble in the sky, _by Isaac Asimov. Logan smirked and began to ramble again.

"The nervous system in man- and in animals- is composed of neuroprotein material. Such material consists of huge molecules in a very precarious electrical balance. The slightest stimulus will upset one, which will right itself by upsetting he next, which will repeat itself until the brain is reached. The brain itself is an immense grouping of similar molecules which are connected among themselves in all possible ways. Since there are something like ten to the twentieth power, or a ten followed by twenty zeroes, such neuroproteins in the brain, the number of possible connection combinations are-" she was nearly finished, and every one was leaning forward slightly in their seats, when Reid finished for his fellow genius.

"Are of the order of a factorial ten to the twentieth power. This is a number so large that all the electrons and protons in the universes were made of universes themselves, and if all the electrons and protons in these new universes again were made of universes, then the number of all the electrons and protons in all the universes so created would still be nothing by comparison" Reid finished. The two young geniuses sat, smiling stupidly at each other, Asimov's book lay completely forgotten on the airline table between them. Logan, looking slightly pissed at having been cut off despite her smile, continued.

"_Pebble in the sky_ was Asimov's first wok of fiction published as a novel, in the year 1950 by Doubleday publishers. It was 223 pages long, the excerpt from before was from pages 52 and 53. It was a member of the_ empire_ series. Preceded by _the currents of space _and followed by _blind alley_, _pebble in the sky_ was greeted with mixed reviews, with Boucher and McComas disappointed in the novel, saying that despite his good ideas, Asimov's 'heavy treatment and routine plot were disappointing.' L. Sprague De Camp, however, dubbed the book 'excellent; one of the few really mature and professional jobs available in book form In the year 1950." Logan concluded her rant, her broad grin looking smug. She took a deep breath, and a sip of her coffee, before finally Reid raised his eyebrows and retaliated simply with,

"Tell me something I don't know." everyone on the plane looked excited and slightly worried. JJ stood from her seat at the back, moving closer and murmuring

"This, I gotta see."

Gideon looked highly amused, Morgan was looking from one genius to another, waiting for one of them to speak, and Emily had long stopped playing with her hair and was leaning forward, her chin resting on her hand, listening intently. Finally Logan once again addressed her fellow genius.

"Well, Dr. Reid," she said, "that sounded like a challenge."

"Once again, Dr. michaels," he replied, neither of them smiling anymore, "tell me something I don't know."

"Go easy on him Logan," hotch called from across the plane, "you don't want to hurt his feelings too bad."

"Ah, Hotch," she asked coolly, rolling up her sleeves, "what would be the fun in that?" Logan clasped her hands on the table in front of her, and raised her eyebrows signaling for her opponent to begin.

"It is illegal to consume Jack Daniels whiskey in the city where it is produced,-" Reid began, before interrupted.

"Lynchburg Tennessee. There has never been a murder within the boundaries of Slaughter, Texas though it has a-ʺ

"Population of 11,284. The wing span of a Boeing 747 is-ʺ

"Longer than the wright brothers first flight? Yeah, I thought you were supposed to be telling me something I don't know. There are on average 300 kernels on the average cob of corn organized into-ʺ

"16 equal rows," Reid said excitedly, smiling again, "did you know that the most poisonous organism in Scotland is the common daddy long legs spider? And even it cannot harm humans as its fangs are too fine to penetrate human skin"

"As a matter of fact I did know that. Did you know that only four murders have ever occurred in the country of Iceland, and even those were committed by outsiders."

"Really?" he asked highly surprised, then he saw the victorious expression playing across Logan's pretty face, his own face fell and he began to splutter, "well... I knew that. Um..." but Logan raised her eyebrows, and smirked, and he could see that she had already claimed her win.

Logan surveyed the rest of the team as she unrolled her sleeves, once again taking her seat. Across from her, Emily was shaking her head in disbelief, smiling slightly. Hotch had returned to his paperwork, but he couldn't manage to hide his own smirk. JJ walked past, and gave Reid a sarcastically comforting pat on the shoulder. Gideon, was smiling proudly at both of them, and Derek was teasing Reid relentlessly, with comments such as; "looks like someone just met their match." but then it seemed that he had a sudden glimpse into his future, seeing himself sandwiched between two arguing geniuses, and he sat back, looking suddenly green, and muttered "oh boy. This is really gonna suck."

Logan chuckled, and stood, joining Gideon in the rear of the plane, where he was setting up a chess board. She hadn't played him before, and he waved for her to move the first pawn. Half an hour later, Logan tipped his king with her rook while chanting a sing-songy "checkmate" and fell asleep to him muttering about how no one ever beat him on the first try.

Logan didn't know that it might very well be the last chess game she ever played. And that it may next time be her falling to the floor while someone whispered;

"_checkmate"_


	4. Chapter 4 birthday

**Again guys, sorry this took so long. Hope you like it. **

**My apologies,**

**-Megan**

**P.S. this is kinda fluffy, but actual plot development starts next chapter. And a big thank you to all the readers for the regular reviews. Stick with me. I think this is going somewhere. :) updates will hopefully be more regular now. **

**Disclaimer: if I owned Criminal minds you wouldn't be reading the fiction set out before you now, but Santa is yet to reply to my desperate letters! :(**

**Chapter 3-birthday**

"_Do not regret getting older. It is a privilege denied to many"-author unknown_

An insomniac, Logan was staring at her plain colored ceiling when her iPod began to blast Debussy, at an hour when normal people preferred to slumber. She got up in a stupor, fumbling for the coffee maker in the dark of her penthouse apartment. She recited complex scientific principles in the shower and replied hastily to her sister's email. She flat ironed her hair with one hand while leafing through the pages of a textbook printed in ancient Greek with the other. She considered maybe returning to school for yet another degree while she ran on the treadmill. Only when she was carefully applying her kohl eyeliner in her wide bathroom mirror did it hit her.

She had been a BAU agent for 2 months and 4 days. She was 20 years old.

She suddenly felt disgusting. She knew how irrational it was, but she began looking herself over for signs of aging. Logically speaking there would be no perceptible difference in her appearance from one day to the next, but she made sure anyway. She was being ridiculous.

She moved to the large bay window that took up most of the far wall, looked out over the bright DC landscape, and looked back on the last 20 years. She skipped all of her childhood. She preferred not to remember that. Easier said than done. There was not a second of her life she didn't remember of course, and it hadn't been easy, getting to where she was. She had seen and been through more in the last decade alone than most do in entire lifetimes. It had been hard, but she had finally figured out what it was she wanted out of life, worked harder than was healthy to make it happen, and had found happiness.

She had never been happier than she had been in the last 20 months. Jason Gideon had saved her from an impending depression that may have removed all of the promise from her young life. As happy as she had been with her position in Crimes Against Children, things had changed after she turned 18. She became unhappy, depressed even. The job had always been depressing, knowing what these monsters could do to kids, but this was a different kind of depression, an indescribable despair that had settled over her, making it hard to breathe with its pressure, as though it was compressing her, urging her to cower and curl into a ball.

She had taken a short leave if absence that summer to clear her head, gone on the road teaching at various seminars as favors to her many professors. Part of her had considered taking one of the offered prof jobs at one of the prestigious universities. The rest of her had insisted she _was _happy, but was being, as many young people are when released into the world as adults, indecisive. So many things she hadn't tried, how to possibly know if she had found the right one?

During that road trip, on which she had been accompanied by her older sister, was when she had been saved. The memory played like a film in her flawless memory. She allowed a small laugh to escape as she remembered how he looked when he demanded that she explain the disposal of a single book. They had set a date to meet again, and Jason Gideon had become her best friend. Polaroid photos of their many adventures covered the small island counter of the spacious kitchen behind her, and she knew her face sat on his desk, away from all of the faces who had been saved by him in other ways, those who were now forever damaged by their horrific ordeals with the worst mankind has to offer, but who also were alive to heal. The ones he preferred to think about, when his mind threatened to stray to those he could not save.

Despite being a tortured damaged man himself, Jason was an immensely good person if one was given the opportunity to truly know him. Logan didn't know where she would be right now if he hadn't given her that exact chance. Would she, could she, have waited out the storm of despair that so badly wanted to uproot everything she had done for herself? Looking at her life now, the storm had passed her by and her life was a shining beacon of light.

If there was a god, she had him to thank for that.

Later still she waltzed into the bullpen of the BAU, the lights off. Not that it was unusual for her to arrive first, (nor to leave last) but she was certain she had left the lights on when she departed last night. So she walked towards the panel of switches on the wall, flicked the one for the bullpen, and was greeted by a chorus of "surprise!" her desk at the back of the room was laden with balloons and a cake, all in varying shades of pink.

"Garcia," she muttered darkly. The quirky woman certainly wasn't helping her feel better about this occasion, but, as everyone had seemingly arrived earlier to attend this celebration, she appreciated the gesture. That was, until she had been forced into her own chair, the eccentric tech disappearing into her lair, returning with a lump of brightly colored fabric. She was brushing the dust off of it enthusiastically, and when she straightened it out, Logan saw Reid take a nervous step back, out of her peripheral vision.

"Not the hat," he sputtered, taking yet another step back. Logan looked at him questioningly before the piece of fabric, which, evidently, turned out to be a hat, was thrust upon her head. She quickly moved to remove it, but felt her hands being slapped at by Garcia. She pretended to lower her hands in defeat, this was definitely one battle she could not win. But when the woman threw up her hands in victory, Logan removed the object, saw a cake with brightly colored candles, and disgustedly cast it aside. Trick candles were lit, refusing to be blown out, and she covered her face with her hands during the horrid song which reminded her that she had aged yet another year. Statistics and weird facts even Reid wouldn't know rose to her lips, but she held her tongue, preferring to suffer in silence.

It was then that JJ, who had quietly left the celebration to answer a ringing phone, returned, sweeping past them with a grim expression on her face.

"Everyone in the conference room, now." she ordered.

That bad, huh?

**End note: so so sorry for not updating guys, but everything was going on, and I totally didn't have time! Anywhoo, I have a small little game for y'all. First one to guess where I got Logan's name from, gets a virtual hug and all the virtual cookies they can eat! I left a hint in one of the previous chapters, but its super nerdy, so y'all might not get it... **

**kisses,**

**Megan**

**ps, loved love loved the premier of season 7 last week! **


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